


if i am the king

by wordswithdragons



Series: sometimes a family is [3]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Ezran centric, Found Family, Gen, POV Corvus (the Dragon Prince), POV Ezran, background - corvus/gren, background - ezran/ellis for like two lines, background - rayllum for like two lines, so many headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24693922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordswithdragons/pseuds/wordswithdragons
Summary: then you have to let me go." Ezran and Corvus make their way back to Katolis, times three.
Relationships: Corvus & Ezran (The Dragon Prince)
Series: sometimes a family is [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690177
Comments: 7
Kudos: 48





	if i am the king

**Author's Note:**

> any background I gave Corvus in this fic are just headcanons. Also alludes to other things from my Soren&Ez oneshot and my Ellis&Lujanne oneshot both in this "found family" collection. Enjoy! :)

_i._

Corvus is quiet, mostly.

It's sort of nice, Ezran thinks. He can hear the birds singing in the trees around him as they look for the Banther den, and if he tries, he can tune in on what they're singing, exactly. It's still not quite words and sentences the way humans would think of him, but an intuitive sense. Maybe? A feeling?

Ezran has usually been good with feelings. That's how his bond with animals manifests. Pictures and purrs and feelings more than direct words or sentences. It's closer to communing and understand them than _talking_. Bait croaks in his arms, a sad sort of rumble, and it reflects both their moods perfectly. It's only been half a day and he already misses Callum and Rayla and Zym so much. Whatever sort of mind link him and Zym had is fading as they both travel in opposite directions, and he's never been away from his brother before, and he knows him and Rayla will keep each other and Zym safe, but—

Ezran feels like crying because he's a little boy, but he's also a king, and kings don't cry. Not really.

(He thinks of the few times his dad talked openly about his mom, voice thick and eyes shiny. But Dad hadn't been wearing his crown, then, either.)

"I missed my family the first time I left home, too," Corvus says and Ezran looks up at him in surprise. He was starting to think Corvus would never speak, except to stammer his way through an answer if Ezran asked for another piggy back ride. It's been quite a day.

"Oh, um, yeah." Then, remembering his manners, Ezran asks, "How old were you?" That's the sort of question you're supposed to ask, right? Like how Dad had always remarked on how tall Queen Aanya was getting whenever they met at a political function, or so Callum had told him; Ez had never been old enough for any of them.

"Sixteen," he answers. "I wanted to serve in the army and was assigned under your aunt, but I was very homesick at first. My overly cheerful bunkmate didn't help either. I don't think Lieutenant Gren has been miserable about much in his life."

"Oh yeah," Ezran smiles. He's always liked Gren. The older man never takes the last jelly tart and is a good translator for Aunt Amaya, since Ez isn't as proficient with Katolian Sign Language as Callum. "He's nice."

"He is," Corvus confirms. "But he didn't stop me from missing my younger brother, Cyrus. Because no one can replace family in your heart." Corvus glances at him. "That's why you have to carry him there."

Ezran mulls this over for a moment, and then his heart feels both heavier and lighter at all once. "Corvus?" he says in a small voice. "Can I have another piggy back ride?"

Corvus stoops down on one knee, the way Callum used to so he was on Ezran's eye level. "Why of course, Your Majesty."

Ez clambers on. It'll be a while before they find any Banthers. Even Corvus hasn't been able to pick up any tracks and he tracked them all the way through the kingdom. But he carries Ezran until they find a Banther den a few hours away anyway.

_ii._

It takes a couple days before Ezran thinks to ask Corvus about the war. He's one of Aunt Amaya's soldiers at the Breach, after all, and Ezran knows it's _dangerous_ there. (Hopes Callum and Rayla have left the worst of it behind them.) Corvus has clearly been travelling for a long time and making camp all by himself for a while, as unlike Rayla he doesn't even ask Ezran to help, the logs assembled and fire lit, their two Banthers sleeping nearby, but they'll keep watch too.

"Corvus," he says, "have you ever lost someone you loved?"

Corvus pauses in picking up twigs. Then comprehension dawns over his features, firelight flickering, and he sits directly next to Ez for the first time in the four days they've been travelling. "I'm sorry about your father," Corvus says. "King Harrow was a good man."

Ez sniffs and leans over, the way he would with his Dad and Callum even if Corvus _isn't_ either of them and it _hurts_. "Do you remember when Grandpa was king, too?"

Ezran knows he was a baby when his father was coronated and that his paternal grandfather had died shortly beforehand and only known him for a few months. That Ezran is derived from his maternal grandfather, too, similarly gone.

"I remember a little about your grandfather," Corvus explains. "But not much. I was still a boy then and didn't pay much attention to politics. But he was a good man, too. And that your father handled the transition well." Corvus expression catches, as though he's unsure for a moment, before he smiles. "I'm sure you'll do the same."

"It doesn't feel like it." Ezran's eyes burn and he wields them shut. "I just—I _really_ miss him."

"My little brother went to war, at the Breach, too," Corvus says, even more quietly. He curls an arm around Ezran. He isn't crying too. He sounds sad but peaceful. "He didn't come home."

Corvus holds the child while he weeps, and Ezran lets himself weep because he isn't wearing his crown, either.

The grief comes in fits and spurts, after that. Sometimes Ezran is fine but his chest is still tight. Sometimes he starts crying for no apparent reason. Sometimes all he wants is his brother and sometimes he doesn't want to be around anyone and can't even stand the sight of Corvus, who weathers it all very patiently. Ezran gets used to babbling and crying into Corvus' shirt. Doesn't quite get used to the swelling anger and the way it'll make him snap, although that is rare, too, after exhausted hours of riding the Banthers.

Corvus isn't his father or Callum. Ezran doesn't quite know what he is. But he thinks, at the very least, that Corvus has become a _friend_.

_iii._

The closer they get to Katolis, the more Ezran doubts his own command. He thinks of the first one he ever really gave, once he'd known it would hold weight— _if I am the king, then you have to let me go_ , to Corvus, who had reluctantly obeyed—and doubts he could give it now. He was able to at the time because Corvus had been a stranger and bearer of bad news and Ezran wading through the high, drowning waves of his immediate grief, but not now. Ezran is too fond of Corvus, who teaches Ezran how to forage once he'd insisted on helping, and gives Banthers scratches under the chin at Ezran's reassurances that it's okay. He doesn't like spooky sounds at night but still heads first into the trees anyway.

The closer they get to the castle, the more Ezran worries that Corvus _will leave_ , too. His official assignment, Ezran learns, was from Aunt Amaya (who hasn't replied to Corvus' mission update he'd sent with a letter of her own, and Ez can't imagine why not) and it was to bring him and his brother home. No more or no less.

Corvus has already broken one rule, bringing home one king instead of two princes. But will he 'break' another and stay? Part of Ezran wants to ask, but he also knows how that could be misconstrued as an order, and that's not what he wants either.

Finally, after a good nine days of travelling (looking back at his, Rayla, and Callum's route to Xadia, Ez can hardly believe how much _time_ they _wasted_ ; holed up in town or the Banther Lodge for a day each, and spending four whole days at the Nexus?) he and Corvus make camp in the royal woods, not too far from where Ez had camped that first night, running from the castle with the dragon egg. Now his home looms ahead, for the first time since...

It feels like he'll walk in and see his father right there, the way he expected until nine days ago—the way he always had—but Ezran knows that's no longer true.

All of the emotions warring inside him must show on his face, because Corvus asks, "How are you feeling?" and it's similar enough to Big Feelings Time that Ezran doesn't hesitate in answering honestly.

"Nervous."

"Oh." Both of them stare into the fire. Ezran wonders if his uncertainty is infectious, due to Corvus' careful, "About the throne, or...?"

"Everything," he admits. The crown. The throne. Whether home will even feel like home without any of his family in it. His dad, brother, Lord Viren (who while not warm had never been _malicious_ until that night in the castle when he'd stolen Callum's voice), Soren, Claudia, Aunt Amaya... Rayla, and Zym. They're all gone, dead or missing or untrustworthy or heading in completely opposite directions.

"You can just handle things one day at a time," Corvus advises, his deep voice steady. "You don't have to know how to be king right away, and you have advisors, don't you?"

"Yeah, but..."

Rationally, Ezran knows that, but emotionally... Child monarchs are the exception, not the rule. And maintaining some semblance of peace is on shaky legs until Callum and Rayla can get Zym to the Dragon Queen. What if he makes a mistake? They haven't been able to keep any of the traditions. He didn't even get to be at his Dad's funeral. He'll need a remodelled cape to fit his tiny frame. He knows he's inheriting the throne _much_ younger than Dad ever expected or hoped. He was supposed to start more kingly lessons in another couple of years, but now he's being thrust into it almost totally unprepared, and—

He thinks of what Corvus had said and the microsecond of hesitation before hand. _I'm sure you'll do the same._ He thinks he understands it now. That even if he _could_ ascend gracefully to the throne, he _shouldn't_ have to. But what other choice does he have? And what other choice could he choose? He already made it. He came all this way because of it. And Ezran knows, deep down in his bones, that this is right.

Maybe he can emotionally agree with Corvus after all. Just one more thing nags at him.

"Corvus?"

"Yes, Ezran?"

Ezran folds his hands over his knees while they both sit on a log. He looks away. "Once I'm king, will you stay? I want you to keep being my friend."

"Ezran." Corvus' voice is soft and pulls back his gaze. He's smiling when Ezran looks up at him. " _Of course_ I will stay by your side. You are my king. And my friend, too."

"Oh." Ezran perks up and grins. Relief runs through him. "Good."

When morning dawns and they climb atop the two banthers to continue the rest of the way, there is some dread for what lays ahead and all the challenges and uncertainties that could be waiting for him. But there is also security, because Ezran knows, no matter what, that Corvus will always be watching his back the same way he is now.

_iv._

It still doesn't feel real.

Not that their quest ever felt quite real, Ezran thinks, except, perhaps, when he was under the ice, but none of it feels real, especially not now. The war is over, the quest completed, peace found. Not without loss and not without sacrifice, but it's over. They did it. In spite of the height of the Spire, it's easier to breathe than it has been in days, since he gave himself up in chains, since realized he had to go home and be king and leave his brother and friends behind. Since he realized his father was gone.

_If I am the king, then you have to let me go._

"King Ezran."

It only takes a few seconds for him to turn and see General Janai—now queen herself, he thinks. Aunt Amaya had told him and Callum (and Rayla) of her imprisonment in Lux Aurea and the battle at the border, and how she'd found her way to the Spire once the battle was over, and they had time. The elf still seems a bit unsure, but she's a capable warrior and protected the Spire and Aunt Amaya trusts her, and Ezran has never been one to look for reasons to dislike someone.

"Queen Janai," he greets, smiling. Diplomacy seems easy now by comparison. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I wanted to speak with you, privately," Janai reveals. "It is something of a family matter."

"Oh." Ezran bows his head. "I heard of your sister's passing. I'm sorry. I know how hard it is to lose a family member."

Janai frowns but she doesn't seem upset. "I know you do. But I was actually talking about your aunt."

"Aunt Amaya? What about her?"

"Her and I were speaking alongside her translator, and she expressed an interest in her soldiers and mine helping to make the Breach safer to cross, and to restore some damaged parts of my city. I know she was originally at the Breach to begin with, but I know her other residing possibility is by your side in Katolis?"

Ezran only has a few seconds to think over the proposition, never mind _feel_ , before he says, very smoothly, "Peace is our first priority. I think your plans sound wise. I was hoping to have the human armies accompany you home to Lux Aurea to begin with, before continuing on our way?"

"That seems the most efficient course of action," Janai agrees.

The efficient or right choice almost never seems to be the one that leaves Ezran the most emotionally content, he's found. It's never easy. Nor is it easy to leave Callum and Rayla behind a second time, now in the heart of Xadia. They promise to visit soon—"Before the next new moon," Rayla says—but Callum can't pass up the chance to learn some sky magic from Ibis while he stays at the Spire for the next few weeks and Rayla wants to see if she can go home to the Silvergrove.

Ezran thinks he's fine with it all, with everything that's happened, until he's sitting with Corvus in the antechamber the day before they're supposed to leave and he breaks down crying. The full weight of the past few days—weeks—month—comes crashing over him in heavy sobs. He lost his father, the only parent he's ever known, and grief does not leave in a matter of weeks (or even years). Ghost shackles sit heavy on his wrists. The bone crushing fear of having to send people to die—of watching people die. Viren above him, staff poised, and then the blood—

He cries into Corvus' lap and Corvus tucks him into a sleeping bag once he's cried himself to sleep. When Ezran wakes up, he's nestled next to Callum with Rayla on the other side and Bait by his feet. Corvus sits in the corner, tired but watching. He smiles when Ezran looks up and nods his head.

A silent _Go back to sleep_ , so Ezran does.

Things are better in the morning and Corvus greets him with a smile. For the second time, Ezran heads back to Katolis with Corvus by his side. With a throne and political messes waiting for him as a destination. But the difference is that, this time, Ezran is holding his head up high, and Corvus is glad to see it.

_v._

Being king in peacetimes is only easier by a margin. Ezran does not have to weigh the value of lives and be pitted against his own people, much. The Breach is healed over. The borders re-open. New mages are instigated at the Nexuses and Callum teaches other humans how to connect to other primal sources while amassing more of his own arcanum. There is so much change, Ezran feels like if he blinks, he'll miss something and be sent floundering.

Corvus, Opeli, Barius, his brother and his friends keep his head above water. Soren pulls faces when advisors backs are turned. Opeli handles as much of the paperwork as he can. Barius always has a fresh supply of jelly tarts waiting. Callum and Rayla pull him along for fun explorations of the castle's catacombs and keep the mushiness to a minimum and rarely leave on his orders for ambassador business.

Corvus is a constant. Callum chases after arcanum and Rayla follows. Opeli has religious duties outside of the kingship. Barius has a husband to go home too. And it's not as though Corvus does not take care of himself—he does. He goes home and visits his family, his younger brother's grave. He writes letters to Gren and convinces Opeli to take the occasional break, too. But sometimes Ezran feels as though by taking care of him, Corvus is also taking care of himself. It is too much of a blessing to question. Corvus is always there with a kind word and a wink (that grow even more frequent when Ellis becomes the castle veterinarian at sixteen).

Ezran only pulls rank against Corvus once, when he's mad about stubborn Earthblood elves and doesn't want to talk about it anymore. "I am the king, and you have to let me go."

Corvus listens—but is waiting in the courtyard they usually sit when Ezran comes back, an apology on his tongue. Corvus was just trying to help. But he shakes Ez off.

"Sometimes," Corvus says. "Friends do not have to apologize."

_vi._

When Ezran goes to war again in a few years, for real this time, again Aaravos, Corvus is by his side. He helps pitch the king's tent on the battlefield that also doubles as the war tent, and bends over maps with him. This is Corvus' second service as a soldier, he remembers. Aunt Janai and Aunt Amaya stand with him, too, all giving advice or leading their own battalions. Soren rests a hand on his sword hilt and rarely leaves Ezran's side either.

Ezran is wounded anyway and when he wakes up, Corvus is there. The bandages around his middle strain as he sits up at twenty-four, a wife and two children at home and another on the way, and Ezran's recognizes the look in Corvus' eyes, because it's an expression he's worn himself in the past too (usually over Callum): the fear of losing a brother. And Corvus has already lost one.

So this time, Ezran is the one who reaches up and hugs him, and promises, "I'm not going anywhere."

When they go home to Katolis, Ezran kisses his wife and him and Ellis decide on a name. She agrees that Cora is perfect.

Ezran swaddles his daughter in cloth and then hands her over to her godfather. "Now say hello to Uncle Corvus," he says, and Corvus grins, blinking bright eyes full of happy tears. He holds the tiny baby with in one large hand, nestled in the crook of his arm, and grasps Ezran's hand sturdily with the other.

Ezran is the king, but Corvus doesn't let him go.


End file.
